H1N1

I'm getting tired of hearing about how devastating it could be. I think it's blown way out of proportion.

Every year there is a flu that going to be way worse than anything we've ever seen, and H1N1 fits the bill for this years flu crisis.

The province I live in is ordering enough vaccinations for everyone that wants to have it, even bringing nurses out of retirement to administer flu shots! In a similar article:

"Dr. Paul Van Buynder, New Brunswick's Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Health, said he's not naïve, knowing that some are underscoring the severity of the pandemic, while others question the safety of a pending vaccine.

Van Buynder said ignoring calls to get vaccinated against H1N1 might be the greatest risk of all.

"We are urging people not to take this virus lightly," he said."

The school sent a note home with my kids that said that if a child has a runny nose or is coughing, they will be sent home. If they actually enforce it, I have a feeling the school is going to be pretty empty over the winter.

It is influenza. Mass hysteria is not needed.

Unless I'm wrong, it is not just influenza, and mass hysteria IS needed.

I agree with you, it IS blown way out of proportion. I can understand vaccinations, though, since a lot of people need to be vaccinated for the flu every year. Seniors, children, and people who have lowered immune systems should be vaccinated.

I don't even know if NS is doing anything like NB is doing, but I'd like my boyfriend to get vaccinated from it since he's got Type 1 diabetes and when he gets sick, he gets very sick.

Our hospitals now have notices tacked up that they will not be treating people in the ER for H1N1, if you suspect you have it, go to your family doctor.

It's a fine line the authorities have to tread and something of a no-win situation.  On the one hand they don't want complete apathy in the population because seasonal flu, when it's bad, already fills the hospitals and the mortuaries and H1N1 seems very transmissable.  On the other hand they don't want to cause total panic and have everyone barricade themselves into their homes, stripping supermarket shelves of long-life goods.

The feature of H1N1 that seems most worrying is that younger people seem to be more at risk.  Whereas older people tend to be the ones dying from regular flu.  I'm taking the NHS advice which is to be reasonably well prepared (in the UK that's the helpline number and a flu-buddy), be alert to any symptoms, take reasonable precautions such as washing hands but otherwise carrying on as normal.

i'm sick of the hype too. People die from "regular" flu at a higher rate than H1N1.

I think they're just hyping up to get people to take the damn vaccines.

(which don't always have the right flu strain in them anyway)

CDC says NO FLU VACCINATIONS!

the more you make your body depend on outside influences, the more it will.

Only vaccinate if absolutely necessary and life threatening! sheesh!

I'm a little worried because apparently it affects kids quite badly.  If they vaccinate at school, I'll probably allow it.  

One day we're going to get hit with another Spanish Flu type of pandemic, it's just a matter of when. 

I suspect we're not being told all there is to know about this thing. I find it odd that every single death from the virus is immediately qualified with the phrase 'the victim had underlying health issues'.

The thing about what the news tells you is that you have to think about what they're not telling you. People are getting a severe strain that attacks the lungs and without medical intervention can die. And not just the old and very young as with seasonal flu viruses, either.  

The other thing to know is that pandemics usually come in two waves. A small initial wave, then a major sweeping epidemic. We may have not yet seen the worst of this.

I think it bears watching.

I'm slightly tired of it too...  I have been weary of this whole issue since it first hit the news stations.  Sure enough, masks were worn, vaccines were ordered.

It seems to be the general consensus that as long as you're in relatively good health, even if you get the H1N1, you'll be OK. 

H1N1 is nothing to sneeze at.

*dons surgical mask that looks like a snout and HAZMAT suit*

Oink.

I remember the big flu panic of the 1980's with the swine flu. They were predicting how bad it would be. They wanted everyone to get vaccinated. It was supposed to be the big killer pandemic.

Fizzzzzzzle.

Is the H1N1 going to be The One? Maybe. I'm not going to worry too much about it. I'm not going to get the vaccine either.

DH wanted to know if I was getting the vaccination...Umm no.  I've had the flu maybe once, maaaayyyybeeee twice in 24 years.  Never had a flu shot, probably won't ever get one.

Original Post by splitrail:

H1N1 is nothing to sneeze at.

 hahahahaha ^^^ 

I think I shall have to get vaccinated because I can ill-afford a hospital stay.

I agree it's blown out of proportion. I'm personally not worried about it. But the fact of the matter is that there are always people who will worry and the H1N1 is semi-dangerous. So it doesn't hurt to be prepared. I am taking vitamin C supplements just to appease my father since I'm at school in NYC where (according to him) 10% of New Yorkers have swine flu.

I think it's a little silly, but how people react to infections and viruses is up to them. Better to be panicky and alive, right? :P

Original Post by gi-jane:

It's a fine line the authorities have to tread and something of a no-win situation.  On the one hand they don't want complete apathy in the population because seasonal flu, when it's bad, already fills the hospitals and the mortuaries and H1N1 seems very transmissable.  On the other hand they don't want to cause total panic and have everyone barricade themselves into their homes, stripping supermarket shelves of long-life goods.

The feature of H1N1 that seems most worrying is that younger people seem to be more at risk.  Whereas older people tend to be the ones dying from regular flu.  I'm taking the NHS advice which is to be reasonably well prepared (in the UK that's the helpline number and a flu-buddy), be alert to any symptoms, take reasonable precautions such as washing hands but otherwise carrying on as normal.

 This.

I'm in the public health field and if everyone would follow gi-jane's example, it'd make my job a lot easier.

I stand a greater chance of dying in a fatal collision on my drive to the flu shot clinic than dying of the flu itself

So if the general consensus of the flu is that it's not that big of a deal, who's behind the hype? The media, or are they being fed by -say- an organization or  drug company?

It's my understanding that the concern is that because this particular version of the flu is so unstable, that we could get a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic where the first few months of the flu weren't that serious, but those contracting it later in the year had a much greater probability to result in death.

edit: On a personal note, regular ol' h1n1 (not the swine flu variant) ran through our household a few weeks ago. I usually don't get sick and when I do I bounce back quick, but I was the last to get it and it kicked my ass for a week. The docs just said I got a particularly nasty strain, but unfortunately it wasn't swine flu.

I thought H1N1=swine flu...

I just figured that some pig farmers association claimed that it cast a negative image on the pork industry, so they gave the flu a pc name.

I agree with kathygator on the suspiciousness of "underlying health issues".  My conspiracy theory streak says that the government is executing some sort of experiment where they expect large amounts of people to die and so therefore have set up the public to expect these deaths in association with H1N1, when in reality they will be totally unrelated!  Anyone ever read "The Stand", by Stephen King?!

my work is going to offer the vaccine, and i'm going to decline. there's just something about it i don't feel good about.

h1n1 is variant of influenza A, swine flu is a variant of h1n1. Sorta like Family > Genus > Species.